Bellerose station gets $250G to add elevator and ramps, the last Nassau LIRR facility to become accessible

A plan to add an elevator and ramps at the last inaccessible LIRR station in Nassau County is getting a $250,000 injection of federal funding, officials said Tuesday.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) gathered with riders with disabilities and other elected officials at the Long Island Rail Road’s Bellerose station to announce the new funding, which Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials confirmed had been earmarked in the federal budget. The station is the last of the 59 in Nassau County to be made accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Until the LIRR’s new Elmont-UBS station opened near her home, Bellerose Terrace resident Sheila Moriarty, who uses a walker, said she’d struggle to get up and down the stairs at Bellerose station to catch a train.

"Basically, if the train station is not ADA compatible, it’s not something that I would be able to go to — not unless I had help," said Moriarty, who saluted the MTA’s recent efforts to make more LIRR stations accessible. "It’s a blessing. It really is. It makes a huge difference."

MTA officials in July announced plans for the Bellerose station upgrades, which will include a new elevator, ADA-compliant ramps at the north and south entrances, and the replacement of all stairs. The effort is among $7.1 billion in accessibility projects funded in the MTA’s current capital budget.

"With no elevator, escalator or ramp, our special needs community cannot access this station. People with smaller children in strollers cannot access this station. And elderly people have a hard time accessing this station, because you have to climb up all those stairs," Gillen said. "Every Nassau resident should be able to access public transport easily and affordably."

In a statement, MTA chief of policy and external relations John J. McCarthy said the agency appreciates Gillen's support for the Bellerose project, which has a total cost of $55 million.

Spurred in part by lawsuits filed by disability rights advocates, the MTA has prioritized station accessibility in recent years, including by adding elevators at several stations on the Babylon line.

With the completion of the Bellerose project, 98% of LIRR stations will be accessible, according to the MTA. One notable exception is Mets-Willets Point, which serves Citi Field, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. It lacks elevators or ramps to link platforms below to the boardwalk above.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.